In a future world of extreme climate change, Perth, Western Australia’s capital city, has been abandoned. Most people were evacuated to the East by the late ’30s and organised infrastructure and services have gone.

Drawing on her local knowledge of Perth, Sue Isle reimagines the Western Australian landscape in a confronting and plausible future. Appealing to both YA and adult readers, Nightsiders is a collection of four interlinked short stories exploring issues of climate change, gender identity, multiculturalism and community. Featuring complex and diverse characters, this collection is aimed at a YA audience looking for fresh and empowering science fiction.

Table of Contents

- Introduction by Marianne de Pierres

- The Painted Girl

- Nation of the Night

- Paper Dragons

- The Schoolteacher's Tale

AWARDS

"Nation of the Night" - winner of the 2012 Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Short Story

"Paper Dragons" - Shortlisted Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Short Story

Longlisted for the Tiptree Award

Shortlisted for Best Collected Work, Aurealis and Ditmar Awards, 2012

Honourable Mention, Norma Hemming Award

REVIEWS

"In this wonderful body of work I hear echoes of two exceptional writers, Doris Lessing and Margo Lanagan.

Sue Isle has created a daunting, yet not hopeless day after tomorrow Western Australia; linked stories all set in the same moment, the moment, for various characters, when you realise that climate change has won, and civilisation is not coming back. So you stop mourning, and you move on… Made me wish there was a novel." – Gwyneth Jones

"Nation of the Night, and this is the story that is for me the lynch pin of the collection… As well as looking at the identity issues for Ash, there is also discussion of the fate of refugees in the city and the difficulties that they face like being able to provide and educate their families, as well as dangers facing those who don’t belong. To me, this felt like a political statement given the emotional reactions that people have to the refugee issue, not only in Australia, but also in other places around the world." - The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader

ABOUT THE TWELVE PLANETS SERIES

Twelfth Planet Press is an independent publishing house challenging the status quo with books that interrogate, commentate, inspire.

The Twelve Planets are twelve boutique collections by some of Australia’s finest short story writers. Varied across genre and style, each collection offers four short stories and a unique glimpse into worlds fashioned by some of our favourite storytellers. Each author has taken the brief of 4 stories and up to 40 000 words in their own direction. Some are quartet suites of linked stories. Others are tasters of the range and style of the writer. Each release is a standalone and brings something unexpected.

The Twelve Planets

Book 1: Nightsiders by Sue Isle

Book 2: Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Book 3: Thief of Lives by Lucy Sussex

Book 4: Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti

Book 5: Showtime by Narrelle M Harris

Book 6: Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren

Book 7: Cracklescape by Margo Lanagan

Book 8: Asymmetry by Thoraiya Dyer

Book 9: Caution: Contains Small Parts by Kirstyn McDermott

Book 10: Secret Lives of Books by Rosaleen Love

Book 11: The Female Factory by Angela Slatter and Lisa Hannet

Book 12: Cherry Crow Children by Deborah Kalin